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The researchers then fed the video clips through 3D motion-capture technology to transform the volunteers into virtual characters, masking their visual appearance.

Women and men were then asked to rate the virtual dancers on their perceived dance and physical qualities.

Watch me strut my stuff: Results of the study showed that both sexes found significant positive associations between an individual's hand grip strength and the perceived quality of their moves

HOW WOMEN'S DANCING REVEALS IF THEY ARE READY FOR LOVE

It's not just men's dancing that gives off signals to the opposite sex. Previous research has shows that the sultry moves women make on the dancefloor may be sending messages about whether they are ready to conceive.

Women who are going through the fertile phase of their menstrual cycle are judged as more attractive dancers by men than woman in a less-fertile phase, a study found.

The findings suggest that the cycle of fertility is not as hidden in humans as scientists once suspected. It was previously believed women had evolved to hide their ovulation, rather than, like other mammals, going on 'heat'

A team from the University of Göttingen in Germany asked 28 women between the ages of 19 and and 33 to dance to the same drumbeat during the fertile late follicular phase of their cycles and the nonfertile mid-luteal phase. The team then showed 200 men, mostly undergraduate and graduate students, the silhouettes of the women dancing.

Even though the men had no idea that fertility was even being studied, the results showed they judged the fertile women as more attractive dancers than the others in their non-fertile phase.

Lead researcher Dr Bernhard Fink speculated that fluctuations in oestrogen - the female sex hormone, which can affect muscle, ligament and tendon strength - may have an effect on women's movements when fertile.

Results showed that both sexes found
significant positive associations between an individual's hand grip
strength and the perceived quality of their moves.

These qualities were picked up by the size and vigour of the movements of the upper body and arms, the researchers said.

It
has long been though that men's dance moves have been designed - like
animal mating displays - to be interpreted as clues of their physical
attributes to the opposite sex.

But the findings showed that heterosexual men were also making use of these signals, presumably to detect love rival.

Northumbria psychologist Dr Nick Neave believes that this increased sensitivity to male qualities by other heterosexual men may be due to 'intrasexual rivalry' - men sizing up the strength and virility of the competition.

'Rated dance quality was positively associated with actual grip strength and these clues of upper-body strength were most accurately picked up by male observers,' he said.

'This ability to discern upper-body strength is principally because men are looking for cues of "formidability" in other males.

'Upper-body strength is highly related to fighting ability as it reflects the ability to do damage, especially in intra-sexual conflicts.

'The ability to gauge strength before potential conflicts is sensible, especially to other males.'

Also part of the research team were Northumbria University academics Dr Nick Caplan and Johannes Hvnekopp, with Bernard Fink, from the Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, University of Gvttingen, Germany.

The study, 'Male body movements as possible cues to physical strength: a biomechanical analysis', is published online in this month's American Journal of Human Biology.